Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Challenge in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels challenge as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Challenge

[OE. chalenge claim, accusation, challenge, OF. chalenge, chalonge, claim, accusation, contest, fr. L. calumnia false accusation, chicanery. See Calumny.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordchallenge
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. chalenge claim, accusation, challenge, OF. chalenge, chalonge, claim, accusation, contest, fr. L. calumnia false accusation, chicanery. See Calumny.]
Selected historical definitionAn invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.
Signed record IDwebster1913-challenge-noun-d7ef7b8a6189
Source locatorCIDE.C, paragraph 5090; Gutenberg eBook 661
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 661Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "challenge" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. chalenge claim, accusation, challenge, OF. chalenge, chalonge, claim, accusation, contest, fr. L. calumnia false accusation, chicanery. See Calumny.]" The selected historical definition says: "An invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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